Committee Meetings

Bio

I would like to take this time to introduce myself as the newest commissioner to the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired board. My name is Darrell Walla.
I was born on Aug. 20, 1955 and grew up on a small farm four miles north of Valparaiso, NE. I attended the Nebraska School for the Visually Handicapped in Nebraska City through the tenth grade. My last two years of high school were spent at Bishop Neumann High School in Wahoo, NE.

I graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln with certification to teach Social Studies. Following this accomplishment, I received my Masters in Special Education.

I taught high school Special Education in Aurora, NE from 1980 to 1995. I worked with students on developing their basic skills, as well as developing a job training program for them. I also had the opportunity to serve one student who was blind.

From 1995 to 2000, I served as a resource teacher at Raymond Central High School. I continued to work in the area of serving students with special needs.

From 2000 to 2005, I had the opportunity to return to my old high school (Bishop Neumann) to teach students with special needs. I am currently teaching at Omaha Burke High School, where I serve as an English and American Government teacher in the Academic Achievement Center. The Academic Achievement Center serves students who are receiving Special Education. In addition, I co-teach two regular English classes, where students are mainstreamed.

I was chosen by the Governor to serve on the Commission Board in December, and am honored to do so. The Commission continues to be a vital force in the lives of all blind Nebraskans, and I hope to serve in any way that I can.

Darrell Walla

Bio

I was born in Rock Springs, Wyoming, and attended public schools in that community until sustaining a blinding injury in a playground accident at the age of eleven years. I attended the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, Ogden, Utah, and the Oregon School for the Blind, Salem, Oregon, before enrolling at, and graduating from the Nebraska School for the Blind; subsequently renamed The Nebraska School for the Visually Handicapped, now known as the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired. I next attended and graduated from The Creighton University College of Arts & Sciences with a major in History and minors in Political Science and Philosophy, and The Creighton University School of Law with a Juris Doctor Degree.

Following my admission to both the Nebraska and Federal Bars, and after a short sojourn in the world of private practice consisting, for the most part, of legal work for an Omaha Hospital, I applied for and secured an appointment as Assistant Attorney General of the State of Nebraska, and was assigned to the Department of Roads. During the next 38 years, I provided legal services to the Department of Roads, State Patrol, State Claims Board and various other agencies, specializing in the areas of Workers' Compensation, Automobile Negligence, and Claims by and against the State, etc.

I was heavily involved in career development and family matters during the early years of the American Council of the Blind (ACB); therefore, although I was extremely interested in the origin and growth of the organization, I did not participate directly in its advocacy programs for and on behalf of the blind and visually impaired. I became a member of the ACB approximately twenty years ago when it became apparent that it had developed into a strong and positives grass-roots organization consisting of approximately seventy state and special interest affiliates dedicated to promoting and advocating for the social and economic independence and welfare of all blind and visually impaired people.

I am a life member of both the American Council of the Blind and Guide Dog Users Inc. (GDUI), and a member of the American Blind Lawyers Association (ABLA). I have served four terms as President of the ACB of Nebraska, five terms as President of its Lincoln Chapter and one term as President of Guide Dog Users of Nebraska. I HAVE, ALSO, SERVED AS DIRECTOR, SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT AND FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT OF guide Dog Users Inc., but declined nomination as president because of the press of other matters. I am presently serving my second term on the Nebraska Statewide independent Living Council (SILC), and have served two terms as its chairman. In addition to my advocacy activities, I am a member of the Bethany Lions Club and recently completed a term as its president.

My wife, Mary Sue, is a graduate of the West Virginia School for the Blind, and is currently employed by the Nebraska Department of Revenue. We have two daughters, Barbara, a member of the State Bar, and Gloria, a Media Buyer for a local advertising agency.

I am honored to have been appointed to serve on the Board of Commissioners of the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired as the representative of the American Council of the Blind of Nebraska. I am pleased to have received appointment for a second term in order to continue my work with the other members of the Board to develop policies, which will enable the Executive director, supervisors, counselors, teachers and other employees of the Commission to serve the needs and occupational desires of all qualified blind and visually impaired residents of the state.

Bill Orester

Bio

Nancy previously worked as a Medical Transcriptionist for various employers, including at Mary Lanning Hospital, Medical Park Diagnostic Center, and for Dr. Ichtertz. She was honored as Employee of the Month at Mary Lanning Hospital, and was a final nominee for their Caring and Kind award.
Nancy studied music education at Hastings College, and attended the Minneapolis Rehabilitation Center for the Visually Impaired. She pursues opportunities to speak to grade school children about blindness, and encourages senior blind in daily activities that are routine to the sighted.

Nancy enjoys: computers, cooking, crocheting, music, and traveling. Her interest in cooking has led to several awards for recipes, and she has had some recipes published in cookbooks. She enjoys teaching others to crochet, and giving pointers on alternatives to those who crocheted prior to losing their sight.

Nancy has served on the board of the Senior Blind of the National Federation of the Blind. She is the former Second Vice-President on the state board of the National Federation of the Blind and Vice-President of the Grand Island Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind. She is also serving as Secretary of the Tabitha Society at her church.

Nancy is happy to be a member of the Board of Commissioners for NCBVI. She is looking forward to the opportunity to help blind people become more fully integrated into society and helping them to reach their goals of education, employment, and equal status with sighted people.

Nancy Oltman

Bio

My name is Wesley Majerus, and I am serving as the National Federation of the Blind of Nebraska's designee on the NCBVI Board of Commissioners. I grew up near Wolbach, NE, a small town in central Nebraska. I attended Wolbach Public Schools and graduated as class valedictorian in 2000. After a summer attending the Nebraska Orientation and Training Center, I studied for five years at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. In 2005, I graduated from the University with a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration emphasizing management and Management Information Systems. I also have a minor in Computer Science.

I currently work for the State of Nebraska - Office of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) as an Internet Applications Developer. My duties include writing web pages and Java code. In addition, I test systems for Section 508 compliance, which means that I test them for accessibility by the blind and disabled. I have held this position for, all told, almost five years as it grew from a part-time, two-day-a-week internship to a full-time position in November of 2006. In my spare time, I enjoy learning how things work, watching sports, traveling, and reading. On occasion, I have assisted with group teaching activities for blind adolescents. Recently, I completed a two-year commitment mentoring a blind youth in a program sponsored by the National Federation of the Blind's National Center for Mentoring Excellence.

I joined the National Federation of the Blind in 2000, soon after beginning college. I served as the Vice President of the Nebraska Association of Blind Students from 2000-2005. From 2004 through 2006, I served as National Federation of the Blind of Nebraska - Lincoln Chapter board member. Currently, I serve as the secretary of the Lincoln Chapter. I am also Second Vice President of the NFB of Nebraska. I am honored to serve on the Board of Commissioners and to lend my expertise in giving direction to the Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Wes Majerus

Bio

Barbara Loos
2742 Scott Ave
Lincoln, NE 68506
Phone: (402) 486-3679 or (402) 477-7711

I, Barbara Loos, grew up in Weeping Water, Nebraska City, and Lincoln, Nebraska. My formal schooling took place at the Nebraska School for the Visually Handicapped (NSVH), now the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired (NCECBVI); Nebraska City High School (NCHS); and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (UNL). I graduated from NSVH, having attended some classes at NCHS, in 1968. I graduated with distinction from UNL in 1973 with a BS Degree in Education, majoring in English and minoring in Spanish.

My employment includes Braille transcription and library work At NSVH in the summer of 1969; print transcription from tapes for Selection Research Incorporated (SRI) in 1973; positions at Nebraska Rehabilitation Services for the Visually Impaired (NRSVI), now the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (NCBVI) from 1973 to 1981, beginning on contract as an Aide and ultimately Becoming Supervisor of the statewide Orientation and Adjustment Center in Lincoln; data entry work from tapes, Braille, and occasional live readers, some formatted for Braille transcription, from 1993 to 2001; instructing blind adults in the use of computers and adaptive equipment from 2001 to the present; and tutoring a blind youth.

I have served on advisory committees to NSVH and NRSVI and on the Board of Directors for Radio Talking Book (RTB). I was a member of the original Planning Team for Statewide Services for Educating Children Who are Blind or Visually Impaired and served on the follow-up team in 2004. I served on the National Advisory Group on Collection-Building Activities at the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) of the Library of Congress from 1998 to 2000. For over 15 years, I have remained President of the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults. In 2000, Governor Mike Johanns appointed me (then Barbara Walker) to the first Board of Commissioners for the newly established Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired (NCBVI) and he reappointed me in December 2003. I have served as its chairman since its inception. I have contributed articles to The Braille Monitor, the National Federation of the Blind's Kernel Books and News From Blind Nebraskans. In November of 2000, I presented a speech on Employment Creation to the Fifth General Assembly of the World Blind Union in Melbourne, Australia. As a member of Trinity United Methodist Church, my responsibilities have included, Secretary of the United Methodist Women unit, President of my adult Sunday school class, Chairperson of Circle III, member of the choir, leader of a book group, Bible school teacher, guitar accompanist, etc. I have also been an informal mentor to a blind child since 1998 and, in 2005, made a two-year commitment to a blind youth as a mentor through the National Center for Mentoring Excellence. I was widowed in 1989 and remarried in 2003.I have two biological children, three stepchildren, and two-step grandsons.

I have received several awards from the NFBN, including the Richard Parker Memorial Award, our state affiliate's highest honor. In November 2001, the League of Human Dignity presented the Ken Lyndhurst Volunteer of the Year Award to me. In August 2003, I received the Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award from the Lincoln East Rotary Club. In 2005, I was presented the Jacobus tenBroek Award, the highest honor bestowed upon a member by the National Federation of the Blind.

Barbara Loos

Bio

I would like to take the time to introduce myself. My name is Carol Jenkins, and I am the newest board member serving on the NCBVI Board of Commissioners as well as being the National Federation of the Blind of Nebraska’s designee.
I was born on May 21, 1983 and was raised in Troy, Kansas, where I grew up on a farm with my parents and two siblings. After graduating with honors from Troy High School in 2001, I was determined to attend college. I enrolled in classes at Highland Community College and set out to work my way through school. By this time, I was living with my new step-family in Atchison, Kansas, where I worked at Long John Silvers and became a team leader and manager.

I graduated from Highland Community College, with honors in 2003, with an Associate of Arts Degree in Mathematics and an Associate of Science Degree in Science. After graduation, I took some time off from school and worked at a local casino to save money for furthering my education. This is where I met my husband, Brett, whom I married in the summer of 2006. Up to this point, I had planned to become a veterinarian, but I soon realized I had a calling to educate others. I knew this would be a difficult task, but I told myself I could do anything I set my mind to. In the fall of 2004, I enrolled at Peru State College, where I decided to become an education major.

After completing the Fall 2006 semester, at Peru State College, I determined it was time for me to obtain rehabilitation training from the Nebraska Center for the Blind, to further enhance and aid in the accomplishment of my goals. I graduated from the Nebraska Orientation Center for the Blind in June of 2007 just in time for my student teaching experience in the Fall 2007 semester at Peru State College. I sailed through my student teaching experience, the Federal No Child Left Behind Testing, and Teacher Certification through the State of Nebraska. I graduated, Summa Cum Laude, from Peru State College in December of 2007 with my Bachelors of Science Degree in Elementary Education and Early Childhood Development.

Currently, I reside in Lincoln, Nebraska, where I am employed through Family Service. I work in the Preschool room at the Early Childhood Center as well as in the Youth Development Program at Riley Elementary School. I am a member of the National Federation of the Blind of Nebraska-Lincoln Chapter and have been the recipient of a state and national scholarship through the National Federation of the Blind of Nebraska and the National Federation of the Blind. I have attended Washington Seminar, participated in the first Junior Science Academy and the National Federation of the Blind’s Mentoring Program, and plan on running for office on the local and state levels in 2009.

I care about the service and success of the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired because I have participated in many of the programs offered as both student and volunteer staff I am one who has truly been helped by the Nebraska Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired and will help to ensure that other blind individuals will be aided so they too can become independent members of society.

Carol Jenkins

Bio

Education: High School Omaha Westside, Under Graduate Bachelor of Arts Degree from University Nebraska at Lincoln, Juris Doctor from University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Work History: After graduating from Law School Private practice of law. Since 1989 worked at Burns and Porter Associates, an Estate and Financial Planning office in Omaha.

Family: Married with one child.

Personal tid bits: Have been legally blind since 1975, and have been totally blind since 1983. Love the outdoors, and the Huskers. I am an avid user of the Nebraska talking book library, and Newsline.

Bob Burns

Bio

My name is Becky Rieken.  I am married to a wonderful man, Paul; we have two amazing daughters, Amber and Kayde; a super son-in-law, Matt; and a beautiful granddaughter, Tegan.
   
I look forward to serving on the board and I hope to offer a few different perspectives that will broaden the way of thinking.  The perspectives I hope to bring are from being a parent of a blind child and most recently from the perspective of a teacher.

After the birth of Kayde, our second daughter, our lives changed.  Through the experiences of raising a daughter who is blind--and learning right along with her--I have grown not only personally, but professionally.

My educational background began in Kearney and continues in Lincoln.  I have a B.S. in Business, Office Administration (UNK), a teaching certificate and a Mild/Moderate Disabilities endorsement (UNK), and am in the process of getting my Masters with an endorsement in VI (UNL).  I started the VI program at UNL to become a teacher for the visually impaired and look forward to contributing ideas to the board.
  
I enjoy spending time with my family and participating in volleyball and crafts through the ARC of Buffalo County.  My hobbies include sewing, cooking, and reading.

Becky Rieken

Bio

I am super pleased to have been appointed as a commissioner. My journey with blindness and NCBVI has been a long, interesting and varied one; from a consumer, to a thirty-seven year employee.

Blindness came into my life in July of 1964, I was fifteen; the cause, a head injury from a car accident. Later that year I not only became a student of Nebraska’s school for the Visually Handicapped, but also a client of the then Nebraska Services for the Visually Impaired (NSVI).

After graduation from high school in 1967 NSVI assisted me to successfully reach my first vocational goal of a massage therapist. After a two year and two month career working within the Covington, Kentucky main branch YMCA, I was ready to take on a much more challenging vocational goal, and so came back to Nebraska. In the fall of 1970, again as a client of NSVI, I was supported in my efforts to successfully complete a teaching degree in special education from the University of Nebraska, Omaha. Though, I did not use my diploma to enter the field of teaching, but applied for and was hired by NSVI as a placement counselor.

It is important to note, that in December of 1973 when I became employed by NSVI, it was under the management of an administration who was viewed by the blind of Nebraska as not meeting their needs. And so in April of 1974, the director of NSVI was ousted and Nebraska’s blind was allowed to choose his replacement. Services then changed from an environment where medical restoration of sight was the norm, to one where individuals with permanent and severe limitations began to be the focus of service. A whole new and progressive philosophy for staff was developed, wherein blindness was normal, and the human potential to successfully live with blindness as productive members of society became the norm.

My employment history with SVI-NCBVI has included: Placement Counselor 1973-75; Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor 1975-85; District Supervisor 1985-93; Deputy Director of Vocational Rehabilitation services 1993-96; Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor 1996-2010. In 1986 I was awarded Super Visor of the year for the creation of the agency’s first ever counselor manual on how to manage our paperwork. And, employee of the year in 2010 for the development of a unique employment seminar for blind job seekers.

I retired from NCBVI on the last day of 2010. I now keep my self very busy by: A sometime, consultant for training of new VR Counselors; a sometime, paid or volunteer teacher of blindness skills; a mentor for a blind Omaha public School student; a member of the Omaha Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB); President of the NFB Writers’ Division; Chair of the NFB Communications Committee; Vice President of the NFB of Nebraska Senior Blind Division. Yes, blindness is still my passion; we must never become complacent with the status quo, and must seek out and be open to whatever it takes to best serve our consumers.

Robert Newman

Bio

My name is Chad Bell. My family and I live just outside of Alliance, Nebraska. A few short months after I graduated from high school in 1995, I was involved in a car wreck which resulted in a back surgery leaving me totally blind. I then attended the Center for the Blind in Lincoln for six months.

My wife and I have been married for eleven years and have two young sons ages ten and eight. As a family, we are heavily involved in agriculture and 4-H. At our home we raise sheep, chickens, pigs and goats; some for income and some for 4-H projects.

I am proud to say that I do custom woodworking, including remodeling building furniture and building buildings. I also work part time at a diesel shop. We also run cattle with my father-in-law. At times I feel that I am spread pretty thin as it feels like I am a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

When the opportunity arose for me to be on the Commission Board for NCBVI I thought that it was my time to pay back. I feel it is vital to make sure NCBVI keeps doing what it is doing because it helped for me become the blind person I am today.

I am proud to represent Western Nebraska and will do all that I can to help blind Nebraskans.

Chad Bell